2002-2003/SLOVAKIA: When Two Doors to the West Opened

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ed Holt and Martina Pisarova

BRATISLAVA, Dec 19 2002 (IPS) - Dominated by national elections and invitations to NATO and the EU, this been quite the most important year in Slovakia’s brief history. But the coming 12 months seem set to be just as crucial.

The last political barrier to membership of both NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the EU (European Union) was removed when former authoritarian prime minister Vladimir Meciar lost the elections in September. After an invitation to join NATO at the summit in Prague late last month, Slovakia was invited to join the EU at its summit in Copenhagen earlier this month.

"Slovakia’s ten years of independence started to make sense this year," says Michal Vasecka, analyst with the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), a think tank in Bratislava. "The country has finally shaken off the shadows of a dark past and is now firmly anchored in a haven of developed democratic states."

The old Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993. Since then Slovaks have seen the rise and gradual fall of Meciar, whom western diplomats at times publicly called an unacceptable leader for a future NATO state.

U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns told local media in June this year that a return of Meciar to power would be a "fundamental barrier" to Slovakia’s entry into NATO. Slovakia was kept out of NATO enlargement in 1997 following doubts over the Meciar government’s commitment to democracy and human rights.

Slovakia returned to the integration track after Mikulas Dzurinda was elected Prime Minister in 1998. Ahead of elections this year Slovakia was warned repeatedly that it must say no to Meciar if it wanted to embrace western democracies. The elections produced a cabinet of four pro-reform, pro-west parties. And that produced the invitations.

"In the lives of nations there are special events," Dzurinda said after the NATO summit. "This is one of them. Never before in the history of Slovakia has the country received such an opportunity for enduring freedom."

After the Copenhagen meeting he said: "The summit has been called a summit of numbers. But I would dare to call it a summit of a fulfilled dream of Slovak democrats who four years ago did not want to believe that not only had a chance for our nation to get into Euroatlantic structures been opened but that we would one day be able to use this chance."

Slovakia hopes that membership of NATO and the EU will improve a struggling economy with unemployment running at 17 per cent. Slovaks have said in recent surveys that they believe increased foreign investment will be a major benefit of the new memberships.

But for now the government is sticking to painful economic reforms and austerity packages as Slovakia sheds communist structures to move to a free market democracy.

Price hikes of up to 40 per cent are planned next year in energy, water and heating. The cost of many goods is expected to rise steeply as the date for EU entry nears – but without a corresponding a wage increase.

Unions have begun to lead strikes against such changes. Some of these concerns have presidential backing. "It should be remembered that while these reforms are carried out for the people, we must take into account the impact on socially weaker groups," says President Rudolf Schuster.

Juraj Kotian, analyst with Slovenska Sporitelna bank says Slovakia is committed to liberalising its market. "It is an important tool to enable Slovakia to become a competitive partner inside the EU," he says. Dzurinda has asked people to support reforms even if they are "painful and difficult". The big test will be a referendum on EU membership May 16-17 next year.

Popular support for EU entry ranges from 60 to 70 per cent but head of the European Commission (EC) delegation in Bratislava Eric van der Linden said recently that the impact of reforms could discourage participation. A minimum of 50 per cent of voters must turn out for a referendum to be valid.

Deputy Prime Minister with charge for EU integration Pal Csaky says the government will launch a 714,000 dollar media campaign early next year to promote a yes vote for EU entry. Additional funds are expected from the EU.

2002-2003/SLOVAKIA: When Two Doors to the West Opened

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ed Holt and Martina Pisarova

BRATISLAVA, Dec 19 2002 (IPS) - Dominated by national elections and invitations to NATO and the EU, this been quite the most important year in Slovakia’s brief history. But the coming 12 months seem set to be just as crucial.
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